{fall}ing

it seems that fall has definitely turned into my busiest season this year! it might have something to do with that event i have coming up in a few months. either way, i have been slacking on my blogging, and that is something i do not want to do! i find blogging to be very therapeutic and not doing it as often leaves my head filled with all of these ideas that I need to get out!

at the end of the summer, i started really "nesting" for the wedding. i had started to purchase all the things I was going to need to craft over the fall so that I would be ready for the holiday season, and wedding. while I feel accomplished with having all of these items, it is a little overwhelming to see all of things I need to do, literally.

so september has been quite busy, and so i'll catch up a little bit on what I've been up to.

it seems that we have started a tradition with some good friends {sean + abby} to go to a Michigan. we did miss a year because Sean and Abby live in Florida, and were getting married (fair enough!). this year we went to the Michigan vs. Navy game. Michigan {barely} won! woo!

that same weekend we had our engagement pictures, which was very exciting! i was definitely a little nervous before the shoot since I hadn't had a professional picture taken of me since... senior pictures! nick, my fiance, did a great job! thank you so much to Amy Schrodt of Pure Amour Photography for being such a fantastic photographer! we took the pictures on Detroit's Belle Isle.

we celebrated a friend's 30th birthday the following weekend in Kalamazoo. it was a beautiful day spent with great people!

this past weekend we spent some time with our favorite couple and celebrated my birthday, and our friend Amanda's. we managed to register for our wedding, which was done very nicely with my fiance.

with all of the activities going on, i haven't slacked on the crafting. i started decorating for fall by creating a scrapbook paper wreath for our front door. this was super easy. this blog has some great ideas to make your own wreath. I also printed and framed some autumn subway art. look at this blog to find one for your mantle!

i managed to make our unity candles for the wedding. i'm not sure if this is the final product, but could be. i made these out of birch paper that I purchased from etsy, and used some ribbon and embellishments that i had. total cost of the project: about $15.

i have been working on some other things, but want to dedicate a different post to those ideas/projects. i hope everyone is having a great fall so far! xo

{DIY} Calligraphy

calligraphy is a beautiful skill that I should try to acquire. however, i'm sure my perfectionism would cause me great heartache when I saw my finished product. as promised, I have a very nice, elegant solution to using a calligraphy and creating the looks below for your wedding invitations or your next event.

not only do I have one, but THREE solutions for you! any of these could be accomplished my anyone.

1. Fake Calligraphy


this fantastic step by step tutorial shows you how to do calligraphy the old fashioned way. it seems so easy, and at first I didn't believe it could be that easy. I grabbed a gel pen and gave it a go, and wouldn't you know, I had a decent looking product!

 2. Trace your heart out!


if only I had an old Lite-Brite, I could just start zipping through these envelopes. this great tutorial shows your how to use a trace table, and a computer print out to create your look. this project lends itself to using so many different fonts, and definitely offers consistency of the lettering and sizing that may not be accomplished with free-hand calligraphy.


3. Print & Trace


hopefully your screen can allow you to see the clever way to achieve that calligraphy look, without needing the tracing table. by printing onto the envelope, or other paper, in a color just slightly lighter, you can see the font, and trace. this even works on white/ivory paper. choose a really light version of the ink color that you are going to use. since this requires you to use a printer, it is very similar to the option above, but cuts out a step.



-OR-
if your are still feeling like calligraphy is more than  you can tackle

as I mentioned in my last blog post, I had dreamed of having a wrap around address label for my wedding invitations. there were so many beautiful examples that I had seen, and I was really hoping to pull this off for my own invitations. this solution is a great way to step away from the look of a simple Avery address label, and into a more classy way of easily address so many envelopes. of course Martha has a great tutorial on how to accomplish this on your own! even as I write this blog, i'm drawn back into the loveliness of these designs.


photo courtesy of Etsy Shop: DigitalBunnyDesigns



Belletristics



photo: Seeing Designs  from  Blush Printables





signed, sealed, delivered

wow, have I been a slacker! I haven't posted since last Thursday! I have been in full force gathering all my supplies for all the wedding crafts I have signed myself up for! as the summer winds down, I realize that there are only a few months before the holidays when the real wedding coordination will take place. so I've decided to bite the bullet and start hoarding these projects. more blog posts will come with some of the final products! I can't wait to share, hopefully they turn out great.

over the weekend, I had a chance to catch up with a friend of mine who is getting married too. as we ran through the lists of things we need to accomplish, compared notes, and organized our thoughts, we started talking stationary. stationary has been on my mind since I got engaged. of course there are the invitations, but there is always so much more to think about: save-the-dates, thank yous, rehearsal invites, shower invites, monograms & such to tie it all together.

I've purchased all of my thank-yous already, and used Vistaprint. I had a Groupon to use with them, and I had never used them before. Considering the amount of products they offer, I was a little skeptical of how the cards would turn out, but they looked great! The great thing about Vistaprint is that they are fast, and very affordable, and we know I'm always looking for a deal! Below are a few cute cards I like, but didn't use myself.

among some of my other purchases, I also managed to an adorable self-inking stamp from Wedding Paper Divas. I had dreamed of doing a wrap around label on the wedding invitations, but decided that is may not be practical for me. I still wanted something personal, and have been looking at monogrammed/custom stamps for quite some time. luckily WPD had a sale, and I snagged this beauty below. I will use this on my outer and inner envelopes for the invitations. best part is that I decided to not put our last name so that we can use this before and after the wedding!

 

  even if you aren't getting married, there are many adorable return address stamps that you can snatch up for a little added flavor to that birthday card, or mortgage payment envelope:

there will definitely be more to come involving this topic. stay tuned for a DIY solution to addressing all those envelopes!

{outfit}ting our love

while I have many of the main items checked off on my list, the next item to take care of is the engagement pictures. I simply cannot wait. my fiance and I are not ones to love having our picture taken, but I am looking forward to capturing us as a couple, and to have those pictures to show our kids and grandkids!

as with any upcoming event, I've been thinking non-stop about the outfits, style, and overall feel I want these pictures to have. I know our photographer Amy, from Pure Amour Photography will do an amazing job, and I probably don't need to fret about these details.. but it's me!

as I have been preparing for many other things summer, I have been on the look out for the perfect pieces to wear during the engagement session. so far, I have only picked up one item:

this fancy little number was only $19.80!

this dress is so romantic, and I think that is the vibe I want to go for: soft & romantic. while I am not worried about finding the perfect outfit for me, I am concerned about what I'm going to be able to get my fiance, Nick, into. there are many cute ideas out there, but most of them he would not go for.

as always, I head to the internet, and my favorite blogs to find some inspiration for what I'm looking for:

I found several amazing pictures that I wanted to share with everyone.



i love the casual feel of these pictures. I would definitely love to be comfortable and cute



this romantic setting, and outfits grabbed my attention right away





these letters are so cute! i'm thinking about recreating these with our initials or wedding date.



this is the closest to my little pink dress I could find. I definitely love the blue printed button up with the feminine dress.





i love the preppy outfits on these two



this is simple, cute, and so romantic!

I adore this dress, and his suit. I think my fiance would love to wear this outfit, and I know I would loove a dress like this!

I really think my fiance could handle a simple button-up to feel casual, but yet still look quite put together.

these little letters are so adorable. this could easily be done to match the wedding colors, season, and just about anything!

I cannot wait to show these to my fiance, and get his opinion. I think that we could pull something like this off, without making him feel too much like a Ken doll.